MOUNT ALOYSIUS EARNS FIRST SOFTBALL TITLE IN PROGRAM HISTORY

#3 Mount Aloysius College made a clean sweep throughout the AMCC softball championship tournament to claim their first-ever women's softball title on Sunday afternoon.

The AMCC Regular-Season Champions, Penn State Behrend Lions, defeated #2 Medaille College in an elimination game 1-0 to start the day and needed to defeat the Mounties twice to keep the crown. Mt. Aloysius won their first AMCC Championship with a five-run second inning and held on for a three-run victory.

The Mount Aloysius softball team beat #1 seeded Penn State-Behrend for the second time in as many days to win the program's 1st AMCC Conference title. The 6-3 victory also gets them a birth in the NCAA Tournament.

The Mounties fell behind early, but battled back and used a trademark big inning to take the lead. After allowing two runs in the first two frames, the Mounties put up 5 runs in the bottom of the 2nd. Catcher Lydia DeFazio led off the inning with a single. The next batter Bri Benscoter dropped down a sacrifice bunt, but was able to reach 2nd when the Behrend pitcher threw the ball away down the first base line. DeFazio would then score on a wild pitch, and after Karly Klein also reached on an error, outfielder Kara Pisczek singled through the left side of the infield to tie the game. The Mounties successfully used a double steal to score the go ahead run and Kate Little put an exclamation point on the inning with a double to the the left center gap. She was knocked in a batter later on a Kayla Hopkins RBI single to finish the scoring.

Penn State Behrend attempted a rally in the next inning, but Hannah Ruby was able to get out of a bases loaded no out jam only surrendering one run. She would dominate from there, allowing 2 hits over the last four innings to seal the Mounties victory. The later inning performance included a stretch where Ruby retired 5 straight batters on only 5 pitches. The Mounties tacked on a security run in the 6th when Little singled up the middle to score Klein.

Ruby picked up her 11th win of the season scattering 6 hits over the 7 innings, allowing 1 earned run. Ruby was named to the All-Tournament Team as she picked up 4 wins, threw 25 innings allowing 2 earned runs for a 0.56 era. She was joined on the all tournament team by catcher Lydia DeFazio and centerfielder Courtney Link. Defazio hit .363 for the four games, including a 2 for 3 performance in the title game. She also caught all 29 innings the Mounties played. Link hit .416 while playing a perfect center field.

The Mounties record sits at 21-13 for the year. They will learn their next opponent during the NCAA Tournament Selection Show. The show can be viewed from the NCAA website  starting at 10:00 AM tomorrow, Monday May 7th.

AMCC Softball All-Tournament Team:
Mount Aloysius: Hannah Ruby, Lydia DeFazio, Courtney Link
Penn St. Behrend: Carson Hauser, Mackenzie McIntire, AJ Nichols
Medaille: Morgan Bedford, Laura Kratzke
D'Youville: Jackie Langer, Ashley Carney
Altoona: Haley Giedroc, Abby Showers
Hilbert: Jenna Castricone, Maia Delaney